Indian companies trading on the American bourses witnessed a value erosion of $12.6 billion this month, with IT icons-- Wipro and Infosys Technologies accounting for half of the total losses.

Indian companies trading on the American bourses witnessed a value erosion of $12.6 billion this month, with IT icons-- Wipro and Infosys Technologies accounting for half of the total losses.

For the month ended January 31, Indian entities listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq--together lost $12.6 billion from their total market capitalisation, with Wipro and Infosys contributing $6.05 billion to the total loss.

Wipro's valuation plunged by $3.96 billion to $28.9 billion, while that of Infosys tumbled by $2.09 billion to $29.63 billion.

Out of the 16 companies listed on the bourses as American Depository Receipts (ADRs), five of the them including Mahindra Satyam (earlier known as Satyam Computer Services) saw a marginal gain of $135 million to its total market capitalisation.

ADRs are bought and sold in American markets just like stocks and are issued in by a bank or a brokerage firm.